Project 70 Land Acquisition and Borrowing Act explained

Project 70 Land Acquisition and Borrowing Act is a public lands acquisition law enacted in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on 22 June 1964. It permits the state to issue bonds for the purchase of lands for public parks, reservoirs, and other conservation, recreation, and historical preservation purposes, and to coordinate those purchases with local governments. The act also permits acquisition of lands by eminent domain. Once the lands are acquired under Project 70, the General Assembly must approve any disposition of these lands. ^[1]

The park in northeastern Pennsylvania, ten miles north of Scranton, was known as Project 70 during its construction prior to opening under the name Lackawanna State Park.

List of state parks

Below is a list of Pennsylvania state parks whose establishment or expansion was funded in part by Project 70 monies. The table includes the park name, if it was a new park or addition, the acres (hectares) acquired, the county or counties it is in, and the dates of the public hearing and approval by the governor.^[2]

Park	Type	Acres (Hectares)	County	Public Hearing Date	Governor Approval Date	Comments
	New park			07-31-1964	08-08-1964	First and largest state park acquired under Project 70; the park opened in 1965 on a limited basis and was formally dedicated in 1971
	New park			09-25-1964	11-17-1964	The park was formally dedicated on May 25, 1974.^[3]
	New Park			10-30-1964	12-10-1964	The park, which was originally named "Codorus Creek State Park", officially opened in 1970.
	Addition			04-23-1965	07-12-1965
	Addition			04-30-1965	07-12-1965
	New park			05-14-1965	12-06-1965
	New park			06-04-1965	09-01-1965
	Addition			08-13-1965	10-06-1965
	New park			12-02-1965	03-23-1966
	Addition			12-02-1965	03-23-1966	Old Stone House was added to the new park
	New park			12-03-1965	03-23-1966	Originally known as "Sandy Creek State Park", name was changed to honor Maurice K. Goddard
	Addition			12-04-1965	07-25-1966
	New park			01-20-1966	03-23-1966
	New park			01-28-1966	03-23-1966
	New park			01-28-1966	03-23-1966	Transferred in 1971 to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
	New park			03-11-1966	06-07-1966
	New park			07-15-1966	10-21-1966	Now Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center
	Addition			08-26-1966	11-18-1966	This is the marina portion of the park
	New park			08-07-1966	01-16-1967
	New park		Cambria, Fayette, Indiana, Somerset, and Westmoreland counties	05-18-1967	07-10-1967	A second hearing was held 05-19-1967
	New park			06-15-1967	04-18-1968
	New park		Crawford and Venango counties	08-10-1967	11-14-1967
	Addition			06-17-1968	07-18-1968
	New park			06-23-1968	07-18-1968
	New park			01-30-1969	03-28-1969
	New park			03-27-1969	06-30-1969	Now Blue Marsh Lake and Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 280. Park was completed, but without funds to operate it, so was given to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, now also partly a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers site
	New park			05-02-1969	07-29-1969	Now part of Clear Creek State Forest

List of county parks

Park	Type	Acres (Hectares)	County	Public Hearing Date	Governor Approval Date	Comments
Moon Lake Park^[4]	New park	650acres	Luzerne County
Two Mile Run County Park^[5]	New park		Venango County

External links

• Environmental laws of Pennsylvania
• Issue raised in Lansford in June 2007

Notes and References

1. Pennsylvania Dept of Conversation and Natural Resources website https://web.archive.org/web/20031229104347/http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/legal/majorlaws.aspx Project 70 Land Acquisition and Borrowing Act, act of June 22, 1964 (Sp.Ses., P.L. 131, No. 8), 72 P.S. §§ 3946.1-3946.22. This law implements Article VIII, Section 15 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, which provides that . . . the Commonwealth may be authorized by law to create debt and to issue bonds to the amount of $70,000,000 for the acquisition of land for State parks, reservoirs and other conservation and recreation and historical preservation purposes, and for participation by the Commonwealth with political subdivisions in the acquisition of land for parks, reservoirs and other conservation and recreation and historical preservation purposes, subject to such conditions and limitations as the General Assembly may prescribe. The act authorizes the Commonwealth and political subdivisions to acquire suitable lands by eminent domain. Under the act, no lands acquired pursuant to the act may be disposed of or used for purposes other than for recreation, conservation and historical purposes without the express approval of the General Assembly.
2. Book: Forrey, William C. . History of Pennsylvania's State Parks . 1984 . Bureau of State Parks, Office of Resources Management, Department of Environmental Resources, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania . Harrisburg, Pennsylvania . 43–44 . 17824084.
3. Web site: Tyler State Park . https://web.archive.org/web/20040214132843/http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/tyler.aspx . dead . February 14, 2004 . 2009-06-25 . Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
4. News: Nuts and bolts of Moon Lake Park takeover examined. Learn-Andes. Jennifer. 3 August 2014. My Dallas Post. 13 September 2014. Civitas Media. https://web.archive.org/web/20141214025339/http://mydallaspost.com/news/local-news-news/50065987/Moon-Lake-takeover-details-examined. 14 December 2014. dead.
5. Web site: Two Mile Run County Park. 14 December 2014.